EFCE Working Party on High Pressure
 Technology

High Pressure Course

EU SOCRATES Intensive Programme
a graduate-student-level school
- High Pressure Technology in the Process and Chemical Industry -

HPT WP members at the WP annual meeting in Maribor, Slovenia 2001

The members of HPT WP of EFCE have promoted an intensive Course on high pressure technology in year 1995. Part of the funds for the course have been covered by EU in the frame of Socrates Erasmus programme. Participating institutions and industrial participants also cover part of the costs. The participating universities and their lecturers are shown in table below. Nevertheless, the number of participating universities is increasing.

The members and recognised European experts both in theoretical aspects in the industrial applications of supercritical fluids present the following topics:

Thermodynamic properties
P hase equilibria
Transport properties
Unit operations for separation at high pressure
Hydrodynamics and mass transfer
Kinetics of high pressure chemical reactions
High pressure equipment
Separation of chiral compounds using supercritical fluids
Extraction of pharmaceutical plants
Supercritical extraction
Scale-up of superciritcal extraction units
Supercritical water oxidation
Precipitation of solids with dense gases
Enzymatic reactions
High pressure polymer processes
Ethylene polymerisation
Chemical Reactions in supercritical fluids
Sterilisation with high pressure
Pharamceutical applications with supercritical fluids
High pressure technology in material industry
Industrial size supercritical extraction
Hydrogenation processes at high pressure

Further practical applications of chemical and process applications are shown within the visits to industry of the hosting university.

Each year the course is held at a different participating university, and is attended by undergraduate and postgraduate students, PhD students, researchers and engineers from different faculties as well as industries.

1995 Monselice, France
1996 Nancy, France
1997 Erlangen, Germany
1999 Abano Terme, Italy
2000 Valladolid, Spain
2001 Maribor, Slovenia/Graz, Austria
2002 Graz, Austria/Maribor, Slovenia
2003 Budapest, Hungary
2004 Barcelona, Spain

High Pressure Course in Maribor, Slovenia 2001

The course is organised by the hosting university and the number of participants is increasing each year (up to 50 participants).

Based on the lecture notes from the course, a book titled "High Pressure Technology: Fundamentals and Applications" was published in September 2001 by Elsevier . It is a first book on high pressure after 15 years.

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